Happy Leap Year!
I trust you all did something special on the extra day we give ourselves each year? (Frankly, I've always wondered how the folks who were born on February 29 celebrate their birthday the other three years.)
As for us, well we've been enjoying moderately weird times amidst an unusually good feeling about this place.
Take the weather. Today, the first day of March, began with a driving snowstorm early in the pre-dawn hours, changing to rain soon after the sun rose, then rising temps to melt the snow, with more rain, then back to snow briefly and finally sunny skies by late in the afternoon. As the sun slides eastward we are the recipients of simply gorgeous colors.
This week has been interesting to say the least, culminating in a bit of spooky coincidence, the good kind I might add.
Susie has been working long hours lately but loving every minute of it -- her desserts are continuing to evolve and I promise to get some of them online soon. The simple fact is I have to wait until they're plated to get truly decent photos and that means going into the restaurant late in the evening. Patience. All comes to he who waits.
Anyway, Wednesday we had a pleasant evening -- after a long day for Susie we went back into town, to Gracie's for the weekly wine flight -- this week it was three "Supertuscans" matched with three small tasting portions of some of Chef Joe's spectacular food. We weren't disappointed on either score. The wines were very nice: Argiano from Montalcino, Piocaia and Fattoria Di San Fabbiano both from near Arezzo. The food also matched well: raw tuna, duck confit and a delicious smoked polenta.
We had originally planed to do the wine flight and then go to a nearby Cuban restaurant for dinner (in honor of Fidel's retirement I suppose). Anyway, we soon found ourselves in a groove sitting at the bar at Gracie's, warm and comfortable, with smooth music playing around our ears and so decided to, well, just eat at the bar. And so we did.
We each had the Maytag salad (chock full of wonderful Maytag blue) topped with several of Gracie's homemade potato chips. We followed that with Chef Joe's homemade gnocchi (way to go Cara) topped with wonderful, earthy mushrooms. Our wine was a well-matched pinot noir from Louis Latour.
Thursday was quiet but Friday became the highpoint of the week -- at least for me.
I'm working on an article for the April issue of Primetime magazine, the feature stories will focus on desserts and I'm interviewing several Rhode Island chefs. Well Chef Joe kindly hooked me up with Michele De Luca-Verley who is an incredibly talented chocolatier. Working out of her home in Portsmouth, RI, Michelle's company, La Maison du Coco, She produces delicious tea-infused chocolate truffles.
After I left Michele's I drove to the nearby pet cemetery. You have got to see this to appreciate why it's worth the trip: the first pet was interred in, I believe, 1936 and, hold on to your hat, the celebrity burial here is "Pookie," longtime companion of "Edward and Wallis, Duke and Duchess of Windsor." See, you can hobnob with royalty right there out in the quiet Rhode Island countryside.
Anyway, that evening after dinner we watched our latest movie from NetFlix, which was -- that's right folks: Chocolat. How cool is that?
The one big disappointment for me was not being able to see Barack Obama -- he was scheduled to speak at Rhode Island College today and I headed over there about noon to check it out.
The college is located in a largely residential area with narrow two-ways streets and the traffic jam was enormous. I turned my car around and headed home.
Hey, he's got my vote and I'll be working for him this Tuesday.
Stay well, keep warm and be cool.
Wish you were here,
Steve
No comments:
Post a Comment